Seedlings #92 2010-09-23

For our #92nd show, we are joined by Karen Janowski, Assistive Technology consultant, Mom, School Committee member, blogger, presenter and a few I have already forgotten! Alice and Cheryl start off the conversation with Karen and Bob breezes in from his favorite school night, Open House! Our show ends up spilling over the one hour mark, but you will love our links, Geeks, and conversations.

19:19:43 Seedlings~cheryloakes getting set up BRB
19:24:33 Seedlings~cheryloakes Hello, just getting ready
19:24:49 loonyhiker i wanted to be an early bird so i wouldn't forget about it :)
19:25:10 sr ditto
19:25:13 Seedlings~cheryloakes Glad you are here!
19:25:18 Seedlings~cheryloakes Hello sr
19:25:28 sr what is the topic this evening
19:25:57 sr or where can I find the blurb
19:25:57 Seedlings~cheryloakes Karen Janowski is our guest, UDL is the topic with special ed
19:26:11 sr thank you
19:27:03 Seedlings~cheryloakes going for the sound
19:27:38 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Hi everyone!
19:28:55 Seedlings~cheryloakes still trying for sound!
19:29:46 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) We'll be there in a minute
19:30:05 KarenJan Hi Pat - how are you?
19:30:24 loonyhiker I'm doing great! i was so excited that you would be here karen!
19:30:37 KarenJan great to see but we have audio issues right now
19:30:59 loonyhiker i hope i didn't jinx y'all :)
19:31:14 Seedlings~cheryloakes should hear sound in a minute
19:31:26 Seedlings~cheryloakes well actually 2 minutes
19:32:20 Seedlings~cheryloakes do you have sound yet in the chat room on ETTA?
19:32:52 loonyhiker yes
19:33:47 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Yea!!
19:33:47 Seedlings~cheryloakes sound check is great.
19:34:34 loonyhiker i've missed y'all!
19:34:57 KarenJan it' sgreat to see you
19:35:07 loonyhiker My hubby thinks I'm watching Valkyrie with him lol
19:35:14 KarenJan lol
19:35:22 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) :)
19:36:40 Seedlings~cheryloakes welcome to Karen Janowski
19:36:50 loonyhiker hooray to Karen!
19:37:10 Seedlings~cheryloakes Loonyhiker, keep him guessing.
19:37:17 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Karen does so many things!
19:37:22 Seedlings~cheryloakes keep him guessing about Valkyrie I mean
19:37:24 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) It's great!
19:38:34 KarenJan Hey Durff!
19:38:35 loonyhiker @cheryl he doesn't have a clue so ignorance is bliss :)
19:38:58 Seedlings~cheryloakes great!
19:39:04 mrsdurff hey all
19:39:31 loonyhiker @durff hi!
19:39:31 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Hi Durff!
19:40:09 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Welcome thanporter
19:41:22 Seedlings~cheryloakes Hello Anita
19:41:34 Seedlings~cheryloakes Durff, Howdy,
19:41:46 Anita Hi, I'm joining for the first time
19:42:00 mrsdurff you're welcome here Anita
19:42:18 loonyhiker we should b meeting individual needs of all children
19:42:22 bobsprankle hi all
19:42:22 mrsdurff Do you have sound Anita?
19:42:36 Seedlings~cheryloakes Anita, we have a chat here. There is sound at ETTA click on the speaker
19:42:42 Anita I can't hear anything
19:42:49 mrsdurff top right of this page
19:43:00 mrsdurff the blue icon works best for me
19:43:08 loonyhiker i had many tchrs that checked that question automatically and never really address it! aargh
19:43:15 mrsdurff click that blue icon
19:43:28 mrsdurff it will open RealPlayer and you will hear
19:43:44 loonyhiker i check windows media and it works for me
19:44:46 Seedlings~cheryloakes yes loonyhiker, that is true, there hasn't been much training
19:44:51 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Bob's Here!
19:45:13 bobsprankle :)
19:45:50 loonyhiker @cheryl our district really didn't want it addressed - i got dirty looks when i brought it up
19:46:10 mrsdurff technology is assistive - it's my accomodation
19:46:21 mrsdurff hi celiac
19:47:03 loonyhiker always told that it cost too much money which should never have been an issue. new tchrs told if they bring it up, they would have to pay for it (which is not legal of course)
19:48:08 mrsdurff I paid for all my own technology the first two years
19:48:32 Seedlings~cheryloakes yes durff, sometime it is easier and faster to do this
19:48:34 mrsdurff I'm in private school and they do what they like
19:48:42 loonyhiker so glad that more and more of "us" are feeling empowered to speak up now
19:48:48 mrsdurff but this year.....
19:49:02 mrsdurff everyone in K-5 wants a blog
19:49:15 mrsdurff everyone wants tech integrated
19:49:26 mrsdurff AND they want me to do training
19:49:32 mrsdurff things change
19:49:53 mrsdurff oh and we have a COW!
19:49:59 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) You go Durff!
19:50:03 loonyhiker i've been talking to more and more gen ed tchrs who are thrilled to know how assistive tech can help all of their students
19:50:12 Seedlings~cheryloakes cast.org/policy common core standards initiative Jan. 2010
19:50:36 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/[8]
19:50:39 mrsdurff hi leanne
19:50:43 Seedlings~cheryloakes Hello Leanne from Hong Kong
19:51:06 mrsdurff helping ALL kids
19:51:14 leeanneHK Good morning from Hong Kong
19:51:18 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Hey Leeanne!
19:51:24 loonyhiker hi leeanne!
19:51:32 Seedlings~cheryloakes Leeanne, glad you are here.
19:51:56 leeanneHK Thanks - will need to duck out and put youngest on her school bus soon.
19:52:09 Seedlings~cheryloakes don't let her miss the bus
19:54:20 leeanneHK Kids love novels on their ipods...
19:54:35 loonyhiker i love novels on ipod too :)
19:54:49 Anita I'm in Australia, beginning of the work day, have to head off to an appointment. I am a teacher consultant and work for an inclusive technolgies company - Spectronics. spectronicsinoz.com. Thanks for the discussion so far.
19:54:50 Seedlings~cheryloakes I love listening to books first!
19:55:02 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Hi Anita
19:55:16 Seedlings~cheryloakes Anita, glad you have joined from Australia! So you are not on break, but in school
19:55:50 Seedlings~cheryloakes Anita, we have this as a podcast too, edtechtalk.com and bobsprankle.com
19:56:07 leeanneHK Giving kids the option to listen is good - I've won the battle with my english faculty that how students access the literature doesn't matter as long as they can access it! listening is good for ESL and special needs kids
19:56:27 mrsdurff love tumblebooks --&gt; http://www.tumblebooks.com/[9]
19:56:38 Seedlings~cheryloakes Oh, yes, tumblebooks are great
19:57:01 Seedlings~cheryloakes Leeanne, how did you win your faculty over? Any hints
19:57:06 Anita Thanks, I'll check out the podcast. bye
19:57:13 Seedlings~cheryloakes bye anita
19:57:19 mrsdurff I need the parents to donate iPods and we can have audio books to loan out on them
19:57:34 Seedlings~cheryloakes good idea Durff
19:57:52 loonyhiker @leeanne I agree. we need to look at what our purpose is
19:58:09 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) @Durff what about Digital Wish?
19:58:19 mrsdurff what is it?
19:58:21 Seedlings~cheryloakes Yes, loonyhiker, we need define the purpose and promote mutilple ways of access
19:58:41 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) @Durff you can put in request for tech and people donate
19:59:01 mrsdurff cool! I'll look into that...
19:59:15 leeanneHK They made english literature compulsory at senior level 2 years ago when we moved to IB. We needed to move literature analysis down the year levels. I started with 1 person and let it breed from their. I did the work in getting parents to read our novels (not usually available online in audio) and have put in a place where staff can give to students.
19:59:35 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/home[10]
20:00:08 Seedlings~cheryloakes Leeanne, I was able to get our english dept. to use literary companion from Academic Merit! It is online and very nice.
20:01:55 mrsdurff talk about malpractice-&gt;Title 1 will pay for me to train but will not pay for me to put it online, accessible to all tchrs
20:02:11 mrsdurff nor will it pay for hardware or software
20:02:23 Seedlings~cheryloakes oh, that is where the restrictions really hamper what we try to do with students
20:02:38 mrsdurff I could use SIRs
20:02:50 mrsdurff but Title 1 won't pay
20:04:03 Seedlings~cheryloakes common core standards initiative Jan. 2010 includes Universal design and UDL, great article!
20:05:08 Seedlings~cheryloakes evening susan!
20:05:41 sroseman Hi Cheryl
20:05:59 loonyhiker really helps when i can show examples of successes with using AT - other teachers are more willing to give it a try when they can see it with their own eyes
20:06:05 sroseman sorry I am late...had a tappedin.org session
20:06:28 mrsdurff hi sue
20:06:36 Seedlings~cheryloakes Yes, it is great to share examples and real people.
20:06:43 sroseman hi durff
20:06:48 Seedlings~cheryloakes Sue, what was on your agenda in tappedin.org
20:07:43 KarenJan http://bit.ly/cXn3oc[11] Be Careful what you wish for
20:07:50 sroseman I participated in a Rushton Hurley session, Cheryl
20:08:07 Seedlings~cheryloakes great, Rushton Hurley,
20:09:24 loonyhiker using word processor, mp3 players for hearing as well as recording their own reading
20:09:46 Seedlings~cheryloakes Thanks Loonyhiker for sharing good examples
20:09:54 leeanneHK @cheryloakes -- problem with many US sites is that they don't have much outside of the 'classics' when it comes to non-american authors. Some of our novels are Asia based or translated from Chinese into English... very hard to source in non-text formats
20:10:23 Seedlings~cheryloakes Of course Leeanne, but this company is just a startup and they welcome new books to add
20:10:51 leeanneHK Great news - this is why I love this group...
20:12:26 mrsdurff I have had kids who I was told could not do anything in my class - they got 'A's' without any accomodations
20:13:21 Seedlings~cheryloakes Durff you believe in them!
20:13:34 mrsdurff two years ago our tchrs would not accept Skyping into class
20:13:36 KarenJan Durff, what do you think was the difference?
20:13:43 mrsdurff now they are begging for it
20:13:55 mrsdurff @Karen - computers
20:14:04 Seedlings~cheryloakes mistake tolerant and mistake intolerant
20:14:06 mrsdurff I teach content using computers
20:15:02 Seedlings~cheryloakes check out Karen's blog teachingeverystudent.blogspot.com
20:15:21 Seedlings~cheryloakes Are the tools in our classroom mistake tolerant or mistake intolerant?
20:16:27 mrsdurff the tcgrs/admin/parents are mistake intolerant
20:16:28 leeanneHK we programme kids to be afriad of making mistakes at school because they are penalised for it so often.
20:16:47 Seedlings~cheryloakes Durff and Leeanne, good points!
20:17:02 loonyhiker i learned "an error is not a terror" but can't remember where
20:17:04 mrsdurff don't give them ideas!
20:17:15 Seedlings~cheryloakes Oh, that is good too Loonyhiker.
20:17:20 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) @loonyhiker :)
20:18:00 leeanneHK our learner profile has "risk taker" as one of the key points... 2 years later kids still having trouble associating this with school work... they think its about physical challenges not mental challenges
20:18:35 Seedlings~cheryloakes Leeanne, hm....taking a risk in school??
20:19:24 loonyhiker my kids felt they were failures or would fail, so why bother trying
20:19:53 leeanneHK maths investigations stump kids -- they think there is only 1 way to a solution and that they're wrong if they don't get the 'right' way
20:19:54 Seedlings~cheryloakes really, somekids are so afraid to try something!anything in front of people
20:20:17 Seedlings~cheryloakes http://teachingeverystudent.blogspot.com/[12]
20:20:21 Seedlings~cheryloakes Karen's blog
20:21:53 loonyhiker our kids r taught not to question, they need to be taught how to ask questions, investigate, take risks
20:23:38 Seedlings~cheryloakes yes, loony, it is harder to create a question than to answer a question
20:23:38 leeanneHK I do 5 minute challenge for times table for my junior class. They get house points for personal improvement. If they get 100% in 5 minutes then I start handicapping them - they only get 4:30. It's all about improving their skills not getting 100%
20:23:44 bobsprankle arcademics.com
20:24:04 Seedlings~cheryloakes Leeanne, this is a good compromise
20:24:19 leeanneHK it's about creating a culture where we expect kids to get their PB
20:24:31 Seedlings~cheryloakes PB, = personal best :-)
20:24:37 mrsdurff http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/[13]
20:24:42 Seedlings~cheryloakes lol
20:25:02 Seedlings~cheryloakes thanks durff
20:25:31 KarenJan http://youtu.be/lNs88Ki1WSo[14]
20:25:32 mrsdurff I have a kid who likes the drag races
20:26:54 loonyhiker i can't wait to seethat
20:27:29 mrsdurff except drinking coffee
20:27:55 loonyhiker no! this time went by waaaay too fast!
20:28:12 leeanneHK The dogs are late tonight
20:28:51 loonyhiker we love karen!!! it is so great to have these conversations :)
20:29:02 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) They are late... Woof!
20:30:01 loonyhiker when we can show that udl can make the biggest impact on the most amt of students, more and more administrators will encourage it
20:30:05 KarenJan http://cast.org[15] -best source for UDL
20:30:31 mrsdurff 8:30 - gtg - ciao!
20:30:39 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Bye Durff!
20:31:20 Seedlings~cheryloakes http://quizlet.com/group/66966/ [16] Assistive Technology is the great equalizer.
20:31:26 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) http://storybird.com/[17]
20:32:41 leeanneHK zero to hero via quizlet!
20:33:06 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) :D
20:33:25 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) http://www.google.com/educators/digitalliteracy.html[18]
20:33:47 leeanneHK words from the future
20:33:52 Seedlings~cheryloakes Stay safe online with alice's geek.
20:34:10 AliceBarr (SEEDlings) Love that Leeanne
20:35:52 bobsprankle http://www.diigo.com/list/bobsprankle/TEDxRedmond[19]
20:38:23 leeanneHK 3rd grade!! wow
20:39:42 Seedlings~cheryloakes Thanks for being with us tonight! You make our show! Good night from Seedlings and KarenJan
20:39:50 sroseman very exciting!
20:39:52 loonyhiker thanks so much for this awesome conversation! y'all rock!
20:40:00 bobsprankle goodnight!
20:40:00 leeanneHK thanks everyone. See you next week
20:40:03 KarenJan good night all
20:40:31 loonyhiker nite all!
20:40:32 sroseman Goodnite all ..Thanks
20:40:41 Seedlings~cheryloakes Bye all, see you next week.
20:40:59 KarenJan thanks for everything cheryl, alice and bob!